Family of missing Tupelo woman hires private eye to hopefully find their loved one

TUPELO, MISS. (WCBI) – The family of a well-known Tupelo woman, missing for nearly a month, is turning to a private investigator in hopes of finding her.

By all accounts, Lori Cockrell has been through a lot in recent years. She battled cancer for seven years, going through chemo and radiation but was cancer-free. She also dealt with mental health issues, that required hospitalization at one point.

And recently, Lori’s brother Tim, said his sister had stopped eating. At 5 foot  7 and 91 pounds, the family became worried and threatened to place her in a hospital or mental health facility if she refused to eat.

And that is what private investigator James Terry, believes prompted the 58-year-old to leave, without telling anyone.

“This lady was not running from child support, she was not running from an ex, she was not running from a divorce, or law enforcement, she disappeared because of some mental issues, diagnosed schizophrenia and other things,” Terry said.

Terry, and Lori’s brother, Tim Cockrell, both say on the morning of August tenth, a neighbor at the Mill At McCullough Apartment complex where Lori lived, saw Lori parking her car, taking up two spaces. Her apartment door was found partially open, and she had left her phone, ID, and other personal items behind.

The private investigator says Lori was seen getting into a 2015 Maroon CRV, with a man and woman multiple times before her disappearance.

“My goal here is to find out who these people were, this middle-aged, heavy-set balding man and his wife,” he said.

Terry believes he will find Lori Cockrell as soon as he finds the driver of that maroon CRV, seen picking Cockrell up, in the weeks leading to her disappearance. If she didn’t leave with that person, Terry wants to know who Cockrell buzzed into her apartment complex the morning of August tenth.

“This could be as simple as she met somebody at a coffee shop, they got to talking, had like-minded set, he says, come stay with me for a couple of weeks, it turned into three weeks or a month, she has some disposable income and she’s staying with that person, because she believes if she pops her head out, she will be in trouble, she will not be in trouble,” he said.

Lori’s brother did not want to do an on-camera interview, but in a statement thanked the Tupelo Police Department and said

“Although the Tupelo Police Department has been awesome, following leads, interviewing people, flying drones in the area, bringing in bloodhounds, we just wanted another set of eyes, because, with her deteriorating physical condition, we felt we were limited on time. The longer this goes without finding her, the less likely we were gonna have a good outcome,” Cockrell said in a statement to WCBI News.

Private Investigator James Terry says time is of the essence and encourages anyone with information on Lori’s whereabouts to call him.

The number for Private Investigator James Terry is 813-993-2242.